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Comcast has folded its Wi-Fi-based intruder detection feature into Xfinity Shield, a repackaged bundle of physical and cybersecurity offerings. The US telco launched WiFi Motion in 2025. Xfinity Shield also includes cybersecurity protections built into the Xfinity Gateway router. The Wi-Fi sensing technology harnesses the radio waves beamed around a user's home to detect motion and potential intruders. "Using Xfinity Gateway intelligence, WiFi Motion detects changes in the home's radio frequency signal between the Xfinity Gateway and a Wi-Fi connected device, then sends instant notifications to customers through the Xfinity app when unexpected activity is detected," Comcast said. "It provides an added layer of awareness without recording video, capturing images or identifying individuals." The company does not consider this a home security service, merely a feature, because it is not managed by a dedicated security provider. Not every connected device can support the sensing feature. It uses the Xfinity Gateway, Xfinity Wi-Fi extenders, and up to three other compatible devices around the home. Crucially, these devices must be stationary. Think thermostats and home speakers, not smartphones or toothbrushes. Comcast advises users to position the router and extenders so that their signals pass through the areas where they want to detect motion. Open spaces such as hallways work best, and the company urges routine testing to ensure coverage is maintained. A setting in the Xfinity app allows WiFi Motion to ignore small pets. Animals weighing around 18 kg (40 pounds) or less will not trigger alerts when this setting is enabled, and the app warns this may also exclude small children. Customers can also adjust the sensitivity of the motion detection, choosing from low, medium, and high-sensitivity modes. Comcast says the latter works best in single-family, detached homes, whereas those who share walls with neighbors may want to choose the less-sensitive settings to avoid meaningless notifications. The telco also assured customers that WiFi Motion does not track individuals or their precise movements, and cannot identify specific people. It added that it "does not monitor motion and/or notifications generated by the service." The small print, which also accompanied the 2025 launch, suggests the service may not be quite as private as the marketing implies. Comcast states: "Subject to applicable law, Comcast may disclose information generated by your WiFi Motion to third parties without further notice to you in connection with any law enforcement investigation or proceeding, any dispute to which Comcast is a party, or pursuant to a court order or subpoena." Comcast does not specify what information may be disclosed or which "third parties," beyond law enforcement, might receive it. How it works Users can establish "sensing areas" by placing Wi-Fi devices around parts of the home with regular foot traffic. Comcast describes each sensing area as a long oval extending between two connected devices. Sensing areas can be established through walls separating rooms, although in two-storey or multi-storey homes, the telco encourages customers to avoid placing Wi-Fi equipment directly above or below each other. "Motion is detected within the sensing area when movement disrupts the wireless signals that travel between your Xfinity WiFi equipment and selected WiFi-connected devices within the sensing area," said Comcast. "Notifications will be sent only when motion disrupts the wireless signals in the sensing area between the WiFi equipment and your connected devices." Not a novel feature Comcast is the latest, but not the first, to harness Wi-Fi radio waves for motion detection. Companies such as Cognitive Systems and Origin Wireless have been developing other uses for wireless signals. Beyond domestic intruder alerts, the technology can measure occupancy and foot traffic in commercial buildings, helping operators reduce energy consumption and make better use of leased space. Wireless signals can also be used to support caregivers in places like assisted living centers. Wi-Fi transmissions can help track activity patterns and build a greater understanding of patients' fall risks, for example. Boffins began working on an official Wi-Fi sensing standard in 2020. Following a draft published by the IEEE in 2023, the 802.11bf standard was ratified in 2025. Major chipmakers including MediaTek, Qualcomm, and others are now working on embedding the standard into their Wi-Fi 7 chips and beyond. SaaS biz Plume, which provides smart home services to consumers and ISPs, has offered Wi-Fi sensing since 2020, around the time the 802.11bf working group began devising the standard. ®

Comcast is promoting WiFi-based motion detection as a part of its new Xfinity Shield home protection platform, allowing routers and wireless devices to detect people moving through a home without cameras or motion sensors. This feature was announced as part of a new Xfinity Shield product offering on Tuesday, a new application suite that combines cybersecurity, physical home monitoring, and family safety features through Xfinity WiFi and the Xfinity app. Part of this new offering is WiFi Shield, which is included at no additional cost for Xfinity Internet customers with compatible gateways. It combines Xfinity's CyberSecure network protection, Family Settings, and WiFi Motion, with Home Watch, Away Watch, and Dark Watch modes used to control when notifications are generated. Comcast is also launching Shield Select for $15 per month, which adds an indoor camera, door/window sensor, cloud video storage, and 24/7 urgent response functionality. However, while Comcast is now making WiFi Motion a major part of its WiFi Shield security offering, the motion detection feature isn't new. A Reddit post from August 21, 2024, shows an Xfinity customer receiving an email introducing WiFi Motion. This email describes the same functionality as today's announcement, stating that the feature detects disruptions to WiFi signals between the gateway and devices on the network and generates notifications in the Xfinity app. "It works too. It detects motion to the point of raising your hand to change the channel with the remote control. Detects my cat walking across the living room," reads another user using the feature in 2024. WiFi NOW also reported in February that Comcast had offered WiFi Motion "for a long time" and was ramping up its marketing, including advertising it during Olympic hockey broadcasts. Turning WiFi signals into motion sensors WiFi Motion works by turning the radio links between an Xfinity Gateway and stationary WiFi devices into virtual motion sensors. According to support documents, customers select stationary WiFi devices, such as smart speakers or thermostats, positioned around the home. When someone moves through the area between the gateway or extender and one of those devices, their body changes how the WiFi radio signals travel. Comcast says the system detects these changes in the home's radio frequency signals and uses them to determine that movement has occurred. Customers will then receive notifications through the Xfinity app without installing a camera or motion detector. Xfinity says the system does not identify who is moving or determine their exact location, and WiFi Motion is opt-in and disabled by default. "It is designed to detect motion, not identify specific people, and does not track the exact location of movement. Notifications indicate when movement is detected between a connected device and the Xfinity Gateway," explains an Xfinity support document. However, the technology can be sensitive, with Comcast providing different motion sensitivity levels to filter out movement from small pets weighing around 40 pounds or less. The company warns that the system has no visual information and therefore may not always distinguish a small pet from a similarly sized child. Comcast also advises customers in apartments and other buildings with shared walls to lower the sensitivity if movement outside the sensing zone causes unwanted detections. A Comcast patent application provides a glimpse into how this type of system can work. The pending patent, titled "Methods, systems, and apparatuses for presence detection," was filed by Comcast Cable Communications in September 2023 and published in April 2025. It describes using stationary network devices for motion detection and analyzing changes in characteristics such as the wireless signals to determine when an object or person has moved through a space. The patent explains that WiFi signals can travel along multiple paths as they reflect or scatter off walls, people, and other objects. Movement changes those paths and the resulting wireless signal, allowing software to detect that something in the environment has moved. Comcast's patent cites several earlier Cognitive Systems patents related to WiFi motion detection, including technology for detecting motion from repeated wireless transmissions and motion detection in mesh networks. Using WiFi as an invisible motion sensor raises questions about what happens to the data generated when people move around their houses. As first spotted by TechCrunch, Comcast's WiFi Motion documentation says the company may disclose information generated by the feature to third parties "without further notice to you" in connection with a law enforcement investigation or proceeding, a dispute involving Comcast, or pursuant to a court order or subpoena. Comcast separately states that it does not monitor the motion or notifications generated by WiFi Motion. The company's documentation does not explain what WiFi Motion information Comcast retains, how long it keeps it, or what it could provide in response to a legal demand. BleepingComputer contacted Comcast with questions about the generated data and will update the article if we receive any additional information. Overall prevention scores can hide what happens after initial access. Once attackers are using valid credentials, prevention drops sharply. 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